There’s little doubt that social media has transformed the way people work, play, and do business.
Nothing typifies this more than Kickstarter, the go-to crowdfunding juggernaut that has launched countless projects, both successful and unsuccessful, and has permanently changed the way startups (and even large corporations) approach funding.
Since its inception in 2009, Kickstarter has continually stayed in the headlines and is facing increased pressure from rivals such as IndieGogo.
To cater to a growing base of clientele, Kickstarter is launching a service called Drip aimed at perpetually funding projects, which is an ideal setup for creative artists like photographers, writers, and podcasters, among others.
Drip quietly entered the scene on November 15 and offers project owners the opportunity to offer their backers a subscription-like service, somewhat like Patreon.
The service will see a wider release sometime in 2018.
According to the British Journal of Photography, one of the first creatives invited to the platform by Kickstarter is Dan Wheeler and Jack Howe’s The Photo Parlour Nottingham. The photo parlour was an old fashioned lab “that boasted black-and-white and colour darkrooms and a dip’n’dunk processor.”
Of the place, owner Dan Wheeler said: “It was dead! But I had to take it on when the opportunity presented itself. Now there’s nowhere like it. There’s nothing like a community darkroom with a strong membership anywhere else in The Midlands. We have a gallery, a studio, an amazing photo book library full of first editions, and a library of cameras. If you randomly grab in any direction in here you’ll find something interesting. All this amazing stuff in one little unit in Nottingham!”
Subscribers to the Drip for the photo parlour will be provided with inside access podcasts, videos, and more, many featuring local photographers but also photographers from other areas.
Dan is really encouraged by the platform and looks forward to the future as a partner with Kickstarter. In discussing his goals for the Drip campaign, Wheeler said: “I’ve always been into punk and DIY stuff…And the reason punk was punk was because people didn’t agree with the way the industry was run, so they did it themselves instead. Back in the 1990s and 2000s I didn’t want anything to do with the male oriented, closed-off, photography industry. I want this place to combat that.”
While Patreon is a dominant force in the subscription-model crowdfunding space, it is not without competition. Given Kickstarter’s robust suite of features already, Drip might just the answer to the perpetual solution of how to fund a creative endeavor.
